Tuesday, 31 December 2013

We left Springfield, OR about 8:30 a.m. It's about 1.5 hours across on Hwy 126 to Florence, OR. I absolutely L-O-V-E this drive. Super cool moss hanging on the trees. Doug is the photographer today for this leg and he did an awesome job!!

Then you start to break out of the heavy forest towards the coast.....

After the forest drive, you get to Florence OR. We turned south on the US Hwy 101. This is where you start to come across the amazing Oregon Dune National Park system. They have many, many areas where people with dune buggies and quads can go and have fun, safely. They cannot go on the main beach part but there are SO many miles of sand dunes. Just hard to wrap your head around the size of the whole area for sure!!

One of the roads into the park area...

Just us and Euri here for now....

Okay, enough said.....

One of the B-I-G sand dune area for quads....

You cruise along the coast for a long time then go around a few mountain,

like Humbug Mtn. and then pop back out onto the coast again....

Welcome to your 3rd state of this tour!!

Beach behind our hotel in Crescent City, CA

We spent quite a bit of time at Umpquah Dunes Park. Super nice area and lots of camping. Our kids told us not to "uber plan" this trip. So we didn't. We "thought" we would get to Eureka CA tonight but we did not. We made it to Crescent City CA, about 70 miles north of Eureka and we were happy. We stopped about 3:00 pm to find a hotel and went for a walk, finished off a bottle of wine and now we are heading out for our New Years Eve dinner. Not sure what we will find, but we will have fun.

Tomorrow we will head out and "try" to maybe get near San Francisco. Not sure how we will do but we do plan on camping somewhere next. Stay tuned for that. Remember, if I don't post it's because there is no internet where we are staying. You will have to check the following morning when we find a Starbuck or McDonalds!!

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From Doug and I to you all:

HAPPY NEW YEAR'S EVE!

Wow...pretty hard to believe that 2013 is winding it's way to a close! We have been blessed with much love, good health and lots of amazing memories for us and our whole family.

We can't say enough how much we appreciate all the support and "followers". Hope you all stay on board!! It's been an amazing ride and we are ready for more in 2014!!

Monday, 30 December 2013

We were up and out the door from Josh, Kathy & Gus' place and through the border at Peace Arch border crossing (Blaine, WA) by 9:15 a.m. Not bad considering that there are still many people doing cross-border "post-Christmas" shopping and this causes huge line-ups at the border.

Welcome to Washington state!!

We had a great drive today. About 6 hours with a small lunch stop and one gas fill up. We are in Springfield OR, ready for dinner!!

...and welcome to Oregon state as well!!

You know these driving days, not much for pictures but here goes...

Leaving White Rock this morning....

Doug did the evening road shots....pretty good, huh?!!!

So, here we go. Tomorrow we will be heading west on Hwy 126 to Florence, OR (on the coast). From there, it's groceries and then southbound on the coast highway. Love this part!!

We are going to try and NOT buy an internet stick. I know, this could cause me some consternation but we will see how it goes. If you don't see a post in the evening, that means we do not have internet and we will be posting when we do coffee on our morning stop!! We will see how it goes!!

Tomorrow is New Years Eve!! Almost time to welcome in a brand new year.......

Last day in Canada for 6 Months!!Sunday night, we spent the evening soaking up time with our kids. One thing we have learned is that we cannot "bank" hugs and cuddles from Gus!! So when we are going away for these extended trips we like to spend that last evening with the kids. We had a great evening......

Some tippy-toeing reaching for snacks!

Hanging onto Grandma's hand so she will show me the pictures on the screen!!

Checking out the Christmas lights outside with Mom....

So, after Gus was tucked into bed, we had to do a tequila shot for our travels. Josh & Kathy have a "shot-ski". It's an old ski with 4 holes drilled into it. You place a shot glass in each hole and then stand together and tip it up to your mouths and enjoy. Usually causes some laughing as no group of 4 people are the same height. You can just barely see Kathy, the shortest in our group (sorry KR) at the far end.

...and we celebrated with the Espuela tequila from Valle de Juarez (thanks Sal!!)

Thursday, 26 December 2013

Now all the wrapping is torn open and the gifts scattered around. Yummy food is all eaten up and much laughter still echos in the room. Christmas Day is done and it was a good one, indeed!! We hope everyone, near and far, had a great day. We sure did!! Here's a little snippet of our day.

Tuesday, 24 December 2013

I can't believe this is Christmas Eve, already!! We are ready and just relaxing at my Mom's place in North Vancouver. Mom and I spent a fun day walking down to the Lonsdale Quay and taking the sea bus over to Canada Place to see the old Woodward's store windows. Doug opted to stay here and give Euri a good wash in the underground parking garage at Mom's - much more comfy than outside!!Last year, they had the windows behind glass and protected but you had to stay outside and look at them. Doug, Mom and I enjoyed them but it rained and it was pretty windy so it wasn't quite so pleasant. This year, they put the display windows inside the Vancouver cruise ship terminal so was so nice to walk around and see them in a dry environment. Again, some of these displays are probably 75 years old. My Mom used to go with her Grandma to see them in the Woodward's store. Woodward's was an old department store in Vancouver. Long gone now. Now they are in a great area, along with a mini train for the kids (big and small...don't worry Josh!!), skating rink and small curling rink. But, the journey there (or to anywhere) is part of the fun, right??

Even the Incredible Hulk wishes you all a Merry Christmas!!

Walking down Lonsdale Avenue...

Outside Canada Place....

Looking back at part of Stanley Park, West Vancouver and the North Shore mountains.

(a bit shrouded in clouds this Christmas Eve....)

Yup....proud to be from!!!

So lucky to have such an amazing Mom in our lives!!

Now, that's a great Christmas gift for sure!!

Looking back at North Vancouver (and the little Sea Bus!!)

Back towards the Vancouver skyline

Entrance to the mini train and skating rink area.

Replicating the the northern lights!!

These displays are all pretty big.

You can just see some kids on the bottom left to give you an idea of scale....

Again, the people are probably about 3-4 feet high

These polar bears were a little scruffy looking but that made them all the better!!

Ha ha - must be the red phone to call Santa at the North Pole!!

I know, I am a giant next to Mom!!! (When I was younger, she must have had to stand on an apple crate to give me a good talking too!!)

Yes, indeed!!!MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!!

Teagan & Shawn (up in Edmonton)

Gus, Kathy & Josh (in White Rock)

....and from us, Nadyne, Doug & Nancy, to all of you!!Merry Christmas to all!!

So, to all our family and friends, near and far, we wish you all a joyous and Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Ramadan, or whatever makes your heart happy and joyful!! We also wish you a year filled with good health (....because that's really EVERYTHING) and wonderful times and memories with family and friends, new and old.